The Influence of Birth Month on Physical Fitness and Exercise Performance of Technical College Students

Abstract

 The present study examined differences of physical fitness and exercise performance of technical college students due to their birth month. The subjects were 1,813 technical college students in total (1,526 boys and 287 girls). Subjects were classified into three groups: a group of students born from April to July (First half group), a group born from August to November (Middle group), a group born from December to the following April 1st (Latter half group).
　We examined the subjects’ grip strength, sit-ups, the long seat body bending forward, sideway jump iteration, twenty meters shuttle run test, 50 meters running, standing long jump, handball throwing and the overall score. The results are as follows:
　1) “First half group”boys of the first grade tended to have significantly higher scores on standing long jump and the overall score compared to the “Latter half group”boys.
　2)“Middle group”boys of the second and third grade tended to have significantly higher scores on the overall score compared to“Latter half group”boys.
　3)There was no difference on any measurement items in the fourth grade.
　4)The girls had no difference on physical fitness scores due to the birth month at all grades.